1969 Dodge Dart Swinger clean up

[dadsbee]

How long can it take to get the nooks and crannies cleaned out....

5 hours later! Never blasting a K frame again... next time I take it up the road.

Blown off and wiped down with wax and grease remover, ready for paint.

Time to do some painting, right after I make the monthly grocery run tomorrow.

 

[4spdragtop]

Looks good, I used POR 15 on my kframe after I blasted it. I bet I only used 2 tablespoons of the stuff. Hasnt been installed yet, so no review on longevity.

 

[dadsbee]

No progress today after doing my duties of grocery shopping.. and grocery shopping in another store.. and then another forkin store to find what we need for a few weeks. Then digging out some skis to take pictures for a guy that hopefully comes through and supplies me with some car play money and then I had to watch the wife watch the news.. LOL

 

[Joe Mc]

Those look to be for a sled? What kind?
Friends of mine have quite a few old 2-strokers, frighteningly quick and fast.

 

[dadsbee]

Would have to be a damn big sled... these are 18" wide and 66" long. For a Cessna 185 or similar size airplane to 3500 lbs gross weight.

 

[Joe Mc]

Hard to tell from the picture. Now that you mention it they do look pretty big compared to other items in the picture. Yea, have to be a pretty big sled to fit those - good one.

 

[dadsbee]

5 parts Flat to 2 parts Gloss... hopefully = Semi-Gloss

Dipped the two sway bar brackets.

You don't miss any spots this way. I let it drip off in one direction and then hung the parts by the other mounting hole to level out the runs.

Into that 5 + 2 mix I then added a 1/2 of Turpentine to thin for spraying. A 1/4 to a 1/3rd may have been better as it thinned a bit more than I wanted.

Broke out my trusty 35 year old Wagner! Painted a car with one of these in 1978 ! The big '69 Fury II boat..

Why I can never have one of those "pretty" shop floors! Gun worked really good and I simulated those factory runs perfectly!

Sealing up the container with over 1/2 the paint I mixed up still remaining, so I can use it for the rear axle assembly later.

No memory required and that's a good thing these days.

Rolled the K frame out to the "bake oven". Almost dumped everything when I added the sway bar and transmission mount, as the legs are not out on the hoist!

Paint on full bake now..

 

[dadsbee]

Borrowed the Wife's single burner to heat up the Corn Head grease... don't tell her. Heat and stir..

..and pour in the steering box filler hole. I kept running the box back and forth full travel and adding semi-liquefied grease until it was almost full.

Installing the Lower Control Arm (LCA) pivot shaft and bushing.

Bushing fully seated.

The last 1/8" or so on the bushing push takes about 5 tons.

Touching up the Cosmoline on the ends of the torsion bar socket, that was squashed off in the press.

All the new steering and suspension parts laid out to insure I have everything I need. Upper ball joints and control arm bushings were recently changed, so they're already on the car.

All parts sprayed with T-9 Boeshield.

I'm sure I probably forgot some piece of hardware, but hopefully I have everything coated to assemble the entire K frame and front suspension.

 

[Demonracer]

And I thought "I" was anal about things. LMAO No offense, I'm just kidding, the work you've done so far is excellent.

 

[dadsbee]

Cheaper than a therapist and keeps me out of the Wife's hair...

 

[Demonracer]

I understand that scenario, I spent most of today helping a friend with D 453 Doug's header installation on his 72 340 Duster. We are close but not complete, we had to massage the pass side header to clear the torsion bar. You know, heat, a 2" piece of rigid pipe, & a BFH. Once we reinstalled, you can't see where we had to modify it. Previously we had to modify the Z bar with heat & a BFH, one step at a time before loading it on my trailer for a trip to the exhaust shop to cut the pipes for a very nice street hook up.

 

[dadsbee]

My "scenario" was almost 6 years sitting in the corner of our Daughters hospital room, found myself a lot of patience I didn't know I had. Losing her started my 4.5 year Bee restoration on the car known as Therapy. This Dart is just fun...

 

[Demonracer]

WOW, sorry for your loss. I can see where one could gain a TON of patience with a situation like that.

 

[mpgmike]

I lost a son...I feel your pain. You apparently dealt with it better than I did. Kudos for having the guts to move on.

 

[Joe Mc]

dadsbee, sorry for your loss. I lost my bride of 11 days shy of 31 years this past Father's Day. That was tough, but couldn't fathom losing our daughter. God bless you and your bride.

Once I get settled in my new Pocono house I will begin, full tilt, on the Duster. You are doing awesome things that I'll be using once metal work is finished.

Keep on keeping on.

 

[4spdragtop]

Our condolences, sorry for you and your families loss.

 

[dadsbee]

Thanks guys and sorry to those in a similar boat. Our Daughter, gone 5.5 years now, continues to help and inspire many Cancer and Sarcoma fighters (through her youtube videos) as weird as that sounds and I guess she wore off on me...so I'm just carrying on her help for others. I call it Karma. I'm sure many have seen Jennifer in stolen video clips on Youtube.. the weird gal that could turn her leg upside down to freak people out. Jen was the first person in the world to walk on an unattached leg and only the 3rd in Canada to have this limb salvage surgery (full R hip removal) after 8+ months of full week chemo sessions for Ewing's Sarcoma. Took a full year of physio 5 days a week to do so, then unfortunately just when it looked like she was getting her life back the Ewing's went to her Skull and next her lungs for 3.5 more years of chemo, surgeries and radiation. Jen passed away at 30 years old and picked the Wife and I's 33rd Anniversary to do so, I guess so we'd remember the date. If you have anyone that needs some inspiration, hit her youtube channel at joshea27 Here's her summation video of her one year of physio to the walk stage..

 

[missing linc]

She was and is an inspiration, so sorry for your loss.

 

[4spdragtop]

Beauty strength and perseverance.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[dadsbee]

Thanks guys and just when I went to add to my post I lost the internet at 11AM.

@mpgmike and @Joe Mc , again sorry for your losses. You never, nor should you, "move on"... but at some point you have to move forward. Just before Jen passed away I took everything airplane out of my workshop, stopped taking on work from customers (after 23+ years) and pulled out my old cars that I hadn't touched in over a decade. And I mean literally pulled them out as we dragged my Bee out of a marine container with a tractor, after being in same for 14 years. A fresh start for me and something Jennifer loved, kinda like working with her.. not because of her. She loved our cars from an early age... this is her at 5 years old getting ready for, and at World of Wheels Oshawa in the Spring of 1990. She had already picked which car was hers. (as has our Son. He'll be the third in the family to put his name on the ownership if I don't count Mom when Dad put the ownership in her name before he died in '86)

 

[scatpackbee]

So very sorry for the loss of your very courageous daughter.

I’m sure you are very proud of her incredible perseverance, strength and determination.

My sincere condolences.

ED

 

[dadsbee]

Enough tear jerking stuff for today... Jen helped me out again today though!

Was looking for the correct Blue to mark the torsion bars . Jennifer helped me out today with her nail polish collection.

The OE Blue markings I found on the bars before removal.

The fresh markings came out about as close as I could hope. One dash on the passenger side bar, two on the drivers.

Time to clean this mess up a bit...

Went to the mail box over lunch and found some long awaited for parts I bought a month+ back. Amazingly the clamps are even the correct sizes to rebuild the leaf spring sets. New plastic wear plates as well. I need 14 for this car. I already had 12 so I had to buy another 6 pack.

I already have an interleaf kit that I didn't use on my Bee, as they were the wrong lengths compared to the OE's. So I'll either use these or shear correct ones from the galvanized sheet.

Turned the parts around so they'd get direct bake heat on the other side for the night. Also touched the K frame up in the seam cracks with a brush.

Snuck the gantry past the car and into my "meat locker" where I can clean and repaint things.

Out of the way and I can now get it ready for correct Turquoise paint.

 

[dadsbee]

Looks like I got the flat/gloss mix pretty good for semi gloss. The transmission mount in my "semi-gloss" mix vs the torsion bars full gloss.

Well look at that, under the oil filler cap, where it didn't get resprayed, is the correct colour of Turquoise ! So the engine builder had it correct before the previous owner resprayed before sale. Incorrect covers mind you, as a '69 shouldn't have a cap!

K frame out of the baking oven and ready to start assembly.

Steering box in place.

Torqued the 3 x 12 point bolts to 80 foot-lbs as per the FSM.

Detail of the special 12 point washer headed bolts and the thick belleville washers that retain the steering box. They are used no where else on the car.

 

[RustyRatRod]

makes me wonder how much the paint would have faded/changed color over 30 years.

Do I have to keep reminding you? You should know all that.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Thanks guys and sorry to those in a similar boat. Our Daughter, gone 5.5 years now, continues to help and inspire many Cancer and Sarcoma fighters (through her youtube videos) as weird as that sounds and I guess she wore off on me...so I'm just carrying on her help for others. I call it Karma. I'm sure many have seen Jennifer in stolen video clips on Youtube.. the weird gal that could turn her leg upside down to freak people out. Jen was the first person in the world to walk on an unattached leg and only the 3rd in Canada to have this limb salvage surgery (full R hip removal) after 8+ months of full week chemo sessions for Ewing's Sarcoma. Took a full year of physio 5 days a week to do so, then unfortunately just when it looked like she was getting her life back the Ewing's went to her Skull and next her lungs for 3.5 more years of chemo, surgeries and radiation. Jen passed away at 30 years old and picked the Wife and I's 33rd Anniversary to do so, I guess so we'd remember the date. If you have anyone that needs some inspiration, hit her youtube channel at joshea27 Here's her summation video of her one year of physio to the walk stage..

I watched the whole video with tears in my eyes. It was very hard for me, as we lost mama in 1984 after a seven year fight with cancer, when I was 19. I don't know what to say. Thank you for sharing.